A Brief History of Cheese Making and Cheese Types

1. Chapter 8 Cheese

2. Chapter 8 Objectives • Trace a brief culinary history of cheese • Discuss the new American cheese movement • Explain the cheese-making process overall • Identify classifications of cheese • Discuss cheese service and storage • Describe the cheese-making process in the kitchen for fresh cheeses

3. History of Cheese • The first cheese making efforts took place in the arid climate of Mesopotamia around 6,000-7,000 BCE. • Cheese’s complexity begins with the intricacy of milk, its primary ingredient, which is high in protein, fat, and sugar. These solids disperse in the serum, or whey, of the milk. • The cheese maker’s primary goal is to separate the milk solids from the milk serum and to preserve the resulting mass of protein, fat, sugar, and residual moisture.

4. What is Cheese? • Cheese is defined as a food product made from the pressed curd of milk. • Mainly made from cows’, goats’, ewes’ and buffalos’ milk. • Each produce a wide range of colors, textures, aromas, and flavors. • The terroir (climate and geography) of a place often restrict the type of animal suitable for the landscape. • Cheese is thought of as a living food because of the “friendly,” living bacteria that are continually changing it.

5. Raw Milk • According to the United States Food and Drug Administration, milk is a potentially hazardous food due to its nourishing composition, high water activity, and relatively neutral pH • In the United States, federal law requires that all cheese for sale must either be made with pasteurized milk, or be aged for a minimum of 60 days • To date, some states allow the sale of raw milk, while others do not. In 2011, the FDA was reviewing policies on the production of raw milk cheese. • Make sure you understand your jurisdiction’s laws regarding the sale and processing of raw milk before proceeding.

6. Artisan Cheeses and Dairies in the United States • In 1851, the first real cheese factory in America was established in Rome, New York. • The economic benefits of centralized production, combined with efforts to standardize cheese quality and ensure food safety, have resulted in the commodification of cheese on a global scale. • However, artisan and farmstead cheese makers have preserved the individuality of unique cheeses of certain places. • Increasing numbers of American artisan cheese makers continue and enrich this tradition in numbers that suggest a movement in favor of the diversity that cheese’s history affords us—all to the benefit of the Garde Manger.

7. The Cheese-Making Process • The basic stages in modern cheese production: • Milk and its pretreatment, including homogenizing, pasteurizing, or heating/ inoculation • Acidification of milk, to change the pH level • Coagulating (curdling) the milk to create curds • Separating the curds and whey • Salting the curds • Shaping, cutting, or molding less the curds into their appropriate shapes • Ripening

8. Basic Tools of Cheese Making • Cheese making relies upon time and temperature control. • In artisan as well as industrial creameries, common equipment such as pasteurizers, steam-jacketed make vats, cheese harps, and climate-controlled ripening rooms or caves facilitate the ease of making cheese. • Small-scale cheese making in a commercial kitchen requires minimal investment, but equipment is available to help maintain the exactitudes of cheese making more easily.

9. Milk Sources and Quality • Because milk quality determines cheese quality, expect cheese to turn out only as good as the milk with which it begins. • The animals’ diet impacts milk quality and flavor. • The sanitation of the milking conditions and the proper storage of the milk are vital steps. • When working with milk, curd, and cheese, always operate with a gentle hand.

10. Pasteurization of Milk • Pasteurization is a heat treatment that significantly reduces the presence of all microorganisms. In which a liquid is heated to a particular temperature and held there for a specific period of time to destroy the naturally occurring bacteria in the milk. • The down side is that the process destroys not only pathogens but also the “friendly” bacteria, which are not only safe but also play an important role in producing cheeses. • The majority of cheese in the U.S. is produced from pasteurized milk.

11. The Transformation Process • The transformation of milk into cheese begins with adjusting the temperature of the milk for bacterial incubation • Overheating milk during pasteurization may denature its proteins and render it unusable for cheese making. • In addition, heating milk above the temperature tolerated by the starter culture will inhibit the culture and significantly compromise the success and safety of the cheese

12. Cultures: Acidification of Milk • Different types of cheese will call for different bacterial cultures or heterofermentative mixes of cultures. Their purpose is multi-fold: • Lactic acid production • Flavor production • Advancing cheese ripening

13. Coagulating (Curdling) the Milk • Acid starters will change the milk rapidly, souring the milk as well as forming curds – tightening the proteins. • The three principal manners of cheese making differ in the methods used to make the curd. • Acid-set curd, an acidic addition such as vinegar or citric acid at high heat. • Set the curd with rennet. • Lactic-set curd, takes up to 18 hours or more to complete the curd set through natural bacterial acidification. • Commercially processed milk may need the addition of calcium chloride (CaCl2) to ensure a firm curd set.

14. Coagulating (Curdling) the Milk • Rennet: an enzyme starter originally obtained from the fourth stomach of young ruminant animals such as cows, sheep, and goats. • Today animal, pepsin, microbial, recombinant chymosin, and vegetable rennets are available. • The rennet that will give the cheese the desired flavor is the one that the cheese maker will use. • Suppliers offer rennet in powder, tablet, and liquid form, although the liquid form is very reliable and most common.

15. Monitoring Acidification and Target Acidities • Milk acidifies significantly during the cheese making process, meaning that the pH level drops. • All cheeses will demonstrate some level of acidification, and individual recipes may often suggest the goal acidity of the milk at various stages during the make process.

16. Cutting the Curds • When the milk coagulates, it generally forms a soft mass curd that must be broken up to allow the noncoagulated portion of the milk, known as the whey, to drain off. • Cutting the curd accelerates acidification and dramatically advances the goal of cheese making: isolating the milk’s solids from the liquids and preserving them. • The high acidity of lactic curd facilitates the rapid draining of the cheese. This is the end of the molding and draining of lactic-style cheese, but rennet-set curd requires a number of other steps.

17. Cooking, Hooping and Pressing the Curds • Cooking allows the curd pieces to expel whey and contract. • Hooping molds the curds into the desired shape. • Pressing cheese requires the gradual increase of pressure on the cheese, expelling additional whey. • New cheese should remain in a warm and humid environment as it continues to drain whey.

18. Salting • Salt is vital for stabilizing and dehydrating the cheese, regulating bacterial activity, enhancing flavor, and making the cheese less susceptible to infection. • Salt may be added at various points in the cheese-making process but it is usually done after draining the whey from the curd. • Salt’s effects on cheese-making: • Adds flavor • Controls fermentation • Limits spoilage • Dries the cheese • The drier the cheese, the longer its useful life.

19. Ripening • Also known as aging or curing • Cheese takes on its intended character in the ripening environment, at about 95% relative humidity and 55˚F/13˚C. • This is where the “magic” of flavor development takes place. • Changes during ripening affect: • Flavor • Texture • Body • Occasionally color

20. Ripening • Cheese ripens from the outside to the center. • All new cheese must be tuned on regular intervals, usually once every one or two days to prevent moisture collecting and spoilage. • During ripening, lactic acid bacteria continue to consume lactose, these transformations may soften the paste, as in a washed-rind cheese, or yield intensely piquant notes, as is common in some hard Italian cheeses.

21. Evaluating Development • Once the anticipated amount of ripening time has passed, core samples from a ripening wheel help to check on a cheese’s progress and readiness for consumption. • A cheese trier aids in sampling cheese. • When evaluating, check for: • Visual aspect (gradient of color) • Aroma • Flavor • Texture (consistency) • Generally cheese will become more acidic, drier, perceptibly saltier, and concentrated as it ages.

22. Cheese Classifications • Fresh Cheese • Bloomy Rind Cheese • Natural Rind Cheese • Washed Rind Cheese • Blue Cheese

23. Fresh Cheeses • Unripened and highly perishable. • Pale white color with generally fine texture. • The aroma should radiate a clean lactic aroma with hints of acidic fruitiness. • Flavors of fresh cheese range widely depending on the milk used, the fat content of the cheese, and the moisture content of the cheese. • Soft and spreadable (however, fresh cheese does not melt well).

24. Fresh Cheeses • Examples: • Chèvre • Fromage blanc • German Quark • Cottage cheese • Cream cheese • Feta • Ricotta • Mascarpone • Pot cheese

25. Soft Ripened “Bloomy” Cheeses • “Bloomy” refers to the velvety mold growth on the surface of the cheese, which should fully and evenly encase the cheese. • The rind should remain firmly attached to the cheese and not readily peel or slip off like a skin. • The aroma should be unobtrusive to the nose, bloomy-rind cheeses smell mushroomy and earthy on the rind, and richly milky in the interior

26. Bloomy Rind Cheese • The flavor is generally mild and creamy on the palate; delivering sweet, salty, acidic, and even slight bitter flavors in balanced complement to each other. • When whole, the cheese should give under slight pressure. When cut, the center ivory paste should bulge outward. • Examples: • Brie • Camembert • Sainte Maure Goat Cheese

27. Natural Rind Cheese • Many aged semi-soft (more than 45% moisture) or semi-hard (35%-45% moisture) artisan and farmstead cheeses show a natural rind.

28. Natural Rind Cheese • Rinds should always show integrity; cracks, wet areas, or other physical damage indicate a compromised cheese. • When inspecting a cheese with a hard developed rind, look at the gradient of color closest to the rind • Earthy, nutty, caramelized, mushroomy, piquant, and fruity aromas are emitted in aged natural rind cheeses. • This broad category ranges widely in flavor, from sweet and nutty to piquant and salty. • Texture ranges from soft to relatively firm.

29. The Cheese Mite: A Ripening Nuisance • Tyroglyphus siro, are tiny insects, invisible to the naked eye, burrow into the hard rinds of aging cheeses, leaving a powdery trail behind them. • While some cheeses are said to benefit from the aeration resulting from these insects’ work, most cheese makers strive to control them by regularly brushing the surfaces of ripening cheeses. • Cheese mites degrade rinds to look uneven, rough, or porous, and can thoroughly damage cheese if left unchecked.

30. Washed Rind Cheese • Generally the most aromatic of all cheeses, washed rind cheeses tend to show interesting tactile qualities and unique color. • Rinds should not be slimy or cracked, but they will generally show a range of color from golden amber to deep reddish orange. • Known as the “stinky cheeses”, this category often surprises customers with its richly sweet and salty tastes accented by earthy aromas. • Flavor lends itself to an almost meaty flavor profile. • Texture varies widely with washed rind cheeses.

31. Blue Cheese • Because blue mold will only grow on exposed surfaces on or within the cheese, all blue cheese is porous to some degree. • Most blue cheeses contain between 30%-50% moisture and around 30% fat in their dry matter • Because of their high moisture content, blue cheeses come wrapped in foil.

32. Blue Cheese • The direct and piercing aroma of Penecilium roquforti announces a ripe blue cheese from a distance: earthy and mushroomy, with an almost metallic edge. • While many blue cheeses taste sweet and earthy, their aroma may suggest a stronger intensity. • The cheese has a salty mineral tang against creamy sweet paste flavor profile. • Depending on the fat content of the cheese, blue cheese can range from firm and somewhat drier cheese, to a softer and creamier texture.

33. Blue-Veined Cheeses • Examples: • Danish Blue • Gorgonzola • Roquefort • Stilton • Maytag Blue

34. Cheese Service • Whether plated or served tableside from a cheese cart, cheese service demands a basic familiarity with the profiles of the cheeses offered and their capacity to be tasted in succession and paired with other food and drink. • Selecting cheeses for a cheese board should be based on: • Milk type • Rind type • Age • Country of origin • Aromatic and flavor profiles • Also in consideration one should consider color, shape, texture, richness, and intensity

35. Cheese Service • When describing cheese, use vivid language that conveys the convergence of appearance, aroma, flavor, and texture. • For maximum diversity, pair cheeses made from different milks, cheeses of different origins, and cheeses of varying intensity. • Traditionally, roasted nuts, fresh and dried fruits, berry compotes, honey, breads, and crackers accompany cheese well.

36. Caring for Cheeses:Storage and Handling • Because cheese is a living food with active biological attributes, it is critical to maintain the highest standards in sanitation during handling. • Buy cheese on a regular basis in small quantities. • Hard cheeses risk drying out or taking on foreign aromas. • Soft ripened and washed rind cheese should be purchased close to the height of ripeness, because they degrade quickly. • Mold is natural for most cheeses and usually does not indicate spoilage. The FD recommends, if cheeses become unnaturally moldy, they may be trimmed by cutting 1/2 to 1 inch past the mold.